Danielle, thanks to you and your team for the comprehensive and thoughtful approach to my inquiry. I approached our meeting knowing that this was not an area that I had great familiarity with and I left feeling informed, prepared and ready to take on the tasks at hand. I now have a schedule and understand the cadence of events for the go forward. The focus and attention that a hometown business can provide is truly invaluable.
DGVE Law helped us create an estate plan for our college freshman, which included financial and healthcare legal documents. The plan was comprehensive and gave us peace of mind. And they were great to work with!
The DGVE team did a fantastic job of guiding my mom through an update to her estate plan. Danielle’s empathy and listening skills let her get right to the heart of Mom’s concerns so that she could craft documents tailored to our family’s situation. Rachel and Amber kept the process moving professionally and efficiently throughout.
In contrast to attorneys who charge by the hour, DGVE’s fee is fixed. Despite this, Danielle was very generous with her time, making sure we understood the options and were comfortable with our choices at every step of the process before moving on. We never felt rushed
Working with Danielle is different because her approach is not about the nuts and bolts of the estate planning process, or the individual documents. Rather, it is all about connecting. She goes above and beyond by asking questions regarding how I feel about things, my goals, and my aspirations and intent. I feel like it’s not just about the individual documents, but what they mean as a whole. The atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable. Danielle is very knowledgeable and allows me to feel comfortable asking questions, knowing I’m going to get good answers. I also really appreciate the organizational aspects of the paperwork, reminders, and having everything in order. Throughout the process I felt like I was being cared for. I came away feeling like everything I needed to get done is done, and I enjoyed my time with Danielle and her team!
Danielle has the ability to interface at a comfortable level and put information in layman’s language so it is easy to understand. We appreciated her in-depth knowledge about the actual trust and her attention to detail. Danielle is very professional and is surrounded by a tremendous support staff.
We appreciated all the detailed explanations. Danielle told us things we did not know were possible. Danielle is relaxed and friendly with a great sense of humor. The entire process is very comfortable unlike any other lawyer we have engaged. We appreciated the well-organized process and documentation. We left feeling comfortable that everything was done completely and perfectly for our family! We feel Danielle is looking out for us! The next time we need a lawyer we will be sure to contact Danielle. We have recommended Danielle to our son.
When you work with Danielle you feel like you have someone who is your advocate. She is very positive and knowledgeable and put us at ease with her explanations and information. We appreciated the three-meeting process and the way they logically progressed, and we gained peace of mind upon completing the process. There is a wealth of information in the welcome packet and worksheets we were given beforehand that were very helpful in understanding what to expect as we went through the process.
Danielle is excited about estate planning! Her work is thorough and she has a clear understanding of the laws and materials she presents. She helped distill complicated laws into understandable ideas. We came away with an overall comprehensive plan to protect our family that will last for a long time, and that gives us peace of mind.
We recently met and became clients of Danielle and her team at DGVE Law when we needed legal work on end of life plans. Although there were a number of sensitive personal and financial issues discussed, Danielle immediately made us feel relaxed and extremely comfortable addressing them. Additionally, she even brought a degree of levity to the situation which was greatly appreciated. Her upbeat manner and excellent communication skills were most welcome and we found ourselves leaving her office with smiles and a greater understanding of the the many issues involved. Danielle and her team are a top tier legal firm who are knowledgeable, friendly and efficient and we look forward to working with them in the future. We highly recommend them!
Danielle did an excellent job in making very complex and intricate legal issues easier to understand. She and her team at DGVE law were very attentive to our personal views, likes and dislikes, and were very sensitive to us as individuals. It sounds trite, but it is true, and much appreciated. Danielle was also excellent at explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the many decisions required in estate planning. We now have peace of mind that we have a good foundation for care for each other and for the disposition of our assets when we move on. We have already referred friends and family to DGVE law for the great explanations of the process, the personal attention to our needs and wishes, and most particularly for the thorough and meticulous work on the legal documents. Finally, we appreciate the way they are organized, including the sturdy binders, and the book bag!
“Danielle is clearly very knowledgeable and she has a knack for explaining things clearly and well. I found her views very helpful as well. Having worked with other lawyers in the past who were too serious and all business I appreciated how Danielle and her team were all so friendly. Of course they were serious too, just not too serious. They made me feel very comfortable, except for the stairs; I wish DGVE law® had a first floor location.”
“I went into the process thinking I would be handed a menu of options from which to choose and was pleasantly surprised that Danielle and her team created a customized plan just for me. Danielle really listened to me and responded in a highly individualized way. DGVE law® exceeded my expectations in every aspect of this process and gave me peace of mind that all the pieces are in place. I would highly, and without reservation, recommend DGVE law®.”
“We like the angle that Danielle is a mom first, attorney second and she added that personal touch. She gave us all the information that we needed to make sure that our family was cared for. After working with Danielle, we now have “peace of mind” knowing that we have an estate plan in place and we now know who will be caring for our children should anything happen to us. A lot of lawyers are just there to do their job and can be very cold but Danielle really added that personal touch by being a mother herself when giving us advice. She had a heart as she was doing our work. We would definitely recommend Danielle to our friends and family because she was very thorough.”
“We just completed our family’s estate plan with DGVE law® and we would highly recommend Danielle’s work. She is deeply committed to her work, passionate about the law she practices, and we admire her innovative approach.”
“I recently went through an emotional personal legal issue, resulting from complications surrounding my deceased father’s will. Danielle was incredibly helpful, giving me trustworthy advice based on her extensive experience. In addition to being knowledgeable, Danielle was tremendously compassionate, understanding that this situation was fraught with emotion and that I was upset, confused and unfamiliar with the complicated legal process. In contrast, I had to work with another attorney in my father’s home state, who turned out to be the complete OPPOSITE of Danielle. His first questions were about how much money I had to cover his fees. The next words out of his mouth were about how I had to send a huge retainer up front before he’d even consider taking the case. He was clearly more interested in the money than he was in helping me through a tense, difficult situation. My conversations with him just spotlighted how unique and special Danielle is. It’s rare, I think, to find a smart, savvy, experienced attorney who is also nice, personable and compassionate. I would enthusiastically recommend Danielle Van Ess.”
What we liked best about working with Danielle was her enthusiasm and comprehensive outlook on what we were trying to accomplish. She made us feel like we were her only clients, although she has so many others. We received the peace of mind knowing that no matter what happened to us, every single aspect of any wishes and finances are all taken of. She covered things that we hadn’t thought of and that was really reassuring. Although we haven’t worked with other attorneys previously; Danielle blew the doors off of any stereotype about lawyers we had. The personal attention Danielle gives her clients along with her extreme attention to detail is an exceptional blend.”
“What we most appreciated about Danielle is that she is extremely thorough and knowledgeable about what she does, and that she loves to figure out the problems involved and find or devise solutions to them. We take such comfort knowing that our plan is complete and fully protects us. We now have peace of mind, that sense that we know that we have an estate plan that is going to really protect our family and children, and that we have someone around to continue to call if we have any questions. We also appreciated how personable Danielle was, really taking the time to get to know us rather than trying to fit us into a mold. Danielle’s communication was wonderful – she communicated not only with us, but also extended that communication to other family members and individuals who are named in our estate plan. As a result. those individuals now have a better understanding of their roles in our plan. Finally, we appreciated the physical beauty of our completed plan, which reflected the beauty of our family. Our overall experience with DGVE law® was so strongly positive that we’ve already recommended Danielle to our friends and family and will continue to do so.”
I had the pleasure of working with Danielle and her team for my estate planning. Who knew that doing such heavy sometimes emotional work could be such a joy. I can not recommend DGVE enough. Thank you to Danielle.
Highest recommendation on every level. DGVE Law – Danielle G. Van Ess and her staff — are the complete package. Extremely knowledgeable and effective, no-nonsense yet incredibly personable, honest, and ethical, and they always follow through. We felt like we were heard, understood, and advised perfectly.
Danielle and her staff are wonderful to work with. They are attentive to your needs, timely with responses, thoughtful and caring. The process was easy peasy! Thank you Danielle & staff!
Danielle is very professional and knowledgeable about everything dealing with estate planning. She and her team are courteous, straightforward, and easy to talk with. I am comfortable knowing everything is in order and I feel I am covered no matter what because of the details and depth of my plan.
Danielle and everyone in her office are kind and genuine. Danielle made, what could have been an overwhelming process, streamlined and easy. The procedure is very comprehensive and everything was spelled out for us. She discussed things that we never even thought of and we appreciated her attention to detail and professionalism.
Danielle made us feel comfortable with her knowledge and thoroughness. We feel confident our plan is done the way we want and our finances are in order. We feel very well taken care of and are happy this is done. It’s good to know you’re in good hands.
Danielle and her team didn’t just prepare the legal documents we needed, but also guided us through the plan’s full implementation. They made sure that our real estate and financial accounts were properly titled and funded. In addition, they provided helpful forms and instructions for our surviving family members. The scope of work was comprehensive, the writing was clear, and Danielle and her staff gave us the motivation we needed to get this stuff done. We now have a comprehensive estate plan, which we will be sharing with our adult children and their spouses.
I reluctantly came to DGVE law® after being highly recommended by my financial advisor. I did not realize how difficult it would be to discuss the “what ifs” at this age and station in my life. Danielle and her staff practically held my hand through this canyon of fears and questions. That was almost 3 months ago. I now have a binder with every last detail taken care of and organized in such a fashion that anybody could understand my wishes. I started out with a sense of fear and confusion and now feel organized and relieved.
In my first meeting with Danielle, I liked how she used the white board and markers to visually enhance my understanding of Will & Trust basics. Using that method, it allowed her to reveal a bit about herself, which eased me to talk about myself and my family. It surprised me that what I originally considered a necessary action to put in place documents that are 100% legal, became a process that removed the legality and centered on my desire to comfort my family. Yes, the final Estate Planning Portfolio is legally binding, but somehow the ‘legality’ of it became the skeleton upon which to build the layers of my personal wishes. Whereas my previous (out-of-state) firm did not timely return my calls, DGVE law® was excellent about communicating with me. With my prior firm, I was sent home with my Will & Trust and felt a large heavy door was shut with little or no opportunity to contact if I had follow-up questions. Because I met the whole DGVE law® Team, I feel comfortable keeping in touch with any of the DGVE law® office members if I ever need questions answered. Oh! and of course I’ll receive a timely response. In fact, I already have on a number of occasions. I’d recommend Danielle & DGVE law® to my friends and family in a heartbeat. While my Trust & Will isn’t as complicated due to my single status with no children, I know DGVE law® is highly capable of taking on every scenario and will be available to me as I go through life events and changes. There’s a genuine touch of great care given to clients, on top of respectful professionalism from all staff.
“Danielle is thoughtful, caring, and a good communicator. She is emotionally invested in her work and in her clients’ well-being. Personal guidance and council are her core principles well practiced. Ensuring your family’s protection and peace of mind are paramount. Danielle is also incredibly thorough; she truly goes above and beyond.”
“Dear Danielle,
I wanted to say thank-you for your help, patience and kindness during the process of Rich and I updating our will and trusts. I can say that I was not looking forward to it (hence, putting it off for more than 5 years!) but you made the whole thing painless. You are a smart, highly competent professional (of course, you are a GWU alum :)) but you also add the human factor to your practice, and that is what makes it unique. The staff you have surrounded yourself with are great to work with as well, and carry through your practice philosophy. All the best Danielle! I look forward to staying in touch with your office.”
“We thought our plan was very comprehensive. It wasn’t about just doing a will…Danielle thought about things we wouldn’t have thought about. She presented us with many options and would ask us specific questions about our family situation. We don’t think other lawyers would have dug as deep to get what we truly wanted. As a result, we think our estate plan is more representative of what we truly want than coming from someone else. We have “Peace of Mind” knowing that our estate plan is now legally taken care of. We’ve already recommended friends to DGVE law® because we think that their circumstances are very similar to ours and not too many have done it yet. We also would like to know that our friends can also have that “peace of mind” and because she is very comprehensive, they would benefit from working with someone who understands their family needs. Danielle explains things in layman’s terms and in a way that’s easy to understand. She was always very professional, but she is so much more than just a lawyer. You feel like she is really looking after your best interests and she becomes personally invested. Danielle has a family, so she tries to think of everything because she understands where you’re coming from.”
“We’ve already referred DGVE law® to our friends because we think what Danielle and her firm offers is so valuable. Even though we all need to do estate planning, so many of us find it easy to procrastinate on such a stressful thing, but Danielle is so personable and easy to work with. She made it easy for us by having a good, simple, specific, and well-planned process. Danielle was really there to have conversations with us. She knew what she was talking about and she truly cared to get our plan done correctly. Having worked within the hourly billing world we can say that the flat fee alternative is great. Just knowing that we didn’t have to be stressed out about getting billed for our questions provided us great peace of mind and we were never rushed out of her office.”
“Danielle takes the time and energy to care about her clients at a time when they’re contemplating their own mortality. She doesn’t turn the process into a simple business transaction. She recognizes what people are in her office to do, which is particularly meaningful. Danielle has a warm personality and is completely thorough. Besides the outcome of having an estate plan, working with Danielle really met our needs. I feel like she took the opportunity to get to know us and really cares about her clients. With regard to the flat fees, you know what you’re getting before you get into it. We have already recommended DGVE law® to our family and friends.”
“You know when you find a rare thing. It’s a rare thing to be able to work with someone who is in the same place in life that you are so that she is able to think of all the details, from the family perspective and the professional legal perspective, and pass that knowledge along to you. I know Danielle cares because she understands our situation as a mother; she does for you what she does for her own family. Our top priority in approaching estate planning was making sure our son would be safe and secure and Danielle did an extremely thorough job for us. We now have peace of mind and no doubt that everything is taken care of and we’ve thought through everything. Danielle took control when it was necessary to help guide us along. She wanted to make sure that we had everything in place that we should. Danielle’s flat fees gave us security knowing that we could ask every question and not be charged for it. I remember working in the billing department at a law firm and seeing the attorneys’ time sheets, so I know how that money can add up. You’re afraid to think about how much. I recommended Danielle to our accountant and explained to him why she’s different. I had tons of questions and would have hesitated on asking if Danielle was billing hourly.”
Run don’t walk to DGVE law- Danielle and her team are amazing. We all want to put off trusts, wills, and healthcare proxies, but it is so important to get these documents in order. Danielle makes it so easy. Danielle has helped my family tremendously as well as my father-in-law. She is knowledgeable, efficient, and compassionate during difficult life events. The binder you receive from Danielle’s team is simply amazing. Everything is in one spot and easy to locate and she goes through each part of the process and makes it really user-friendly. My husband is an attorney and was simply amazed at Danielle’s vast knowledge, compassion & professionalism.
Don’t put it off any longer contact DGVE Law- your peace of mind will be restored! Thank you Danielle & your awesome legal team!
An exceptionally positive experience, from plan development to, regrettably, an all-too-soon execution of the plan. Danielle and her team methodically reviewed existing plan documents and recommended changes based on current needs and estate law. They then oversaw the assembly of all required documentation, and ensured we worked to correctly fund the related trust accounts, in the end providing a comprehensive set of documentation. When the time came to put the plan into action, the team was there – during the height of COVID “round 1” no less – to guide us through the process of legal filings, asset distributions, and so many other estate close-out requirements. It all followed the plan as designed, but it was reassuring to know there was reliable counsel to guide us through the details. A final and sincere thanks to Danielle and her team at DGVE!
Danielle made a complicated, and what had been a previously overwhelming process, something that was understandable and implemented it in an easy to understand format. We had been ambivalent about getting our will and estate plan done but Danielle and her team made the whole process easy and even fun. The peace of mind that we have cannot be expressed. The estate plan that Danielle and her team put together for us will work for us through our entire lives and that of our children. She has thought of every permutation and provided protection and a road map for our family now and for the next two generations. Danielle and her team also do this with so much heart and generosity – there were so many extra services that were included in DGVE law’s plan. Danielle and her team were a pleasure to work with and they provided an exceptional product for us.
Danielle has modern sensibilities. We felt confident and secure throughout the process and are reassured knowing that our plan is completed according to our wishes.
I appreciated the level of organization and communication throughout the entire process. It was convenient to know what to do when and have all the steps spelled out. The teamwork is seamless, like a well-choreographed dance where everyone knows exactly what to do when. I felt so well-cared for! I highly recommend Danielle!
We were constantly impressed with Danielle’s wonderful working knowledge of the law. She used her expertise to advise us in the best possible ways and brought up things we never would have thought of. She is thorough, personable and well-informed, and we felt she and her team really cared about us. Everyone is very approachable and made the process easy. Danielle used real English and never spoke “lawyerish!” We are walking away with an incredible portfolio of everything we need for our family – things that will help our children in the present and in the future and make it easier for them. We now have OUR lawyer!
Danielle and her staff are very warm, and the entire environment is comfortable. The experience is very different than that of other impersonal law firms. Danielle puts her whole self out there and you know you’re talking to a real and genuine person, and that’s unusual. I left feeling a sense of relief that things are taken care of.
There were many things we loved about Danielle and her team at DGVE law, but the thing that meant the most to us is the time they took to get to know us and, based on that, advocate for our family’s future. We trust her and her team implicitly, and appreciated the care they exercised on putting together the best plan for us. The level of detail and accuracy was incredible, and their sense of humor and warmth made what could have been a stressful process easy and enjoyable. Danielle and her team obviously have multiple clients, but I feel like when I contact them, they know everything about me and my family and care about us as friends rather than clients.
“The most positive part of working with DGVE law® was the transparency and straightforwardness. We expected more work on our end, but the whole process was much easier than expected. The final product went well beyond our expectations.
“Highest recommendation on every level. DGVE law – Danielle G. Van Ess and her staff — are the complete package. Extremely knowledgeable and effective, no-nonsense yet incredibly personable, honest, and ethical, and they always follow through. We felt like we were heard, understood, and advised perfectly.”
“We feel so comforted by understanding all the pieces of our estate plan and having it all done thoroughly and correctly. Danielle explained everything to us in an easily understandable way. She and her team are so organized and detail-oriented. There is just no comparison; working with DGVE law® has raised the bar for us on how working with a lawyer should be.”
“We found Danielle to be approachable and the office very family friendly. Danielle helped us understand the process, how to plan properly and organize our affairs. Danielle made us more comfortable and put us at ease. We felt more like equals and she really tailored our plan to our needs. We enjoyed the whole experience, the process was easy, and the way the meetings were broken down made everything manageable.”
“We were pleased to find that Danielle is super down to earth and extremely personable. She puts you completely at ease and makes the process understandable for the layman while also making sure to take care of every detail. Knowing that our kids are taken care of in the event something should happen to us, naturally down the line or suddenly, gives us security and peace of mind. Danielle is great to work with and her fun personality makes the experience fun! We would definitely refer her to our friends and family.”
“I have worked with DGVE law® twice so far. My overall experience working with Danielle and [her team] was fantastic. I truly enjoyed my interactions with them. [They] were always right on top of things and kept me in the loop. They were constantly available and always got back to me immediately; there were never any frustrating delays in their responses to my calls or emails. When my patience was starting to run out, Danielle kept an even keel. She is professional and she knows the business quite well. Danielle was very good about explaining things to me in layman’s terms and advising me about the pros and cons of everything that was going on so I could make decisions and feel more in control of the process.”
“We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with the amount of time Danielle took to listen to our situation. Attorneys that we’ve worked with in the past were very time conscious and that was reflected in the way we were treated. We were charged by the hour and corners were cut and shortcuts were taken to compress the details of our situation and the personal touch got lost because of that. When we signed our plan documents it was very obvious that Danielle took everything we said into consideration to integrate it into the plan she crafted for us. We now have peace of mind and some solace that if something were to happen to us our children are going to be taken care of the way we want. We’ve already recommended Danielle to a colleague of ours! She left us feeling extremely confident in her abilities and her process to execute the plan should it ever become necessary. The extensive time she spent with us to uncover exactly what we were trying to accomplish was reassuring and it paid off.”
“Danielle assisted us with our estate plan, which was long over-due. Danielle made the process quick, easy and painless! We truly appreciated all the tips and advice to help us choose guardians for our children. Since Danielle is a mom, she knows how hard it is to choose an appropriate guardian! Her advice really helped! Danielle was very accommodating in setting up conference calls. I’m so glad we found her. I would, and have already, recommended her to friends!”
“Perhaps the best part about working with Danielle was her depth of knowledge and the ease and comfort we had in talking with her about personal/delicate matters. Danielle is so much more personal than other attorneys we’ve worked with and we never felt like the clock was running out. We were impressed with the level of care and attention we received. Most of the time you’d be paying by the hour and we felt like we could relax, ask as many questions as we wanted to without the worrying about the clock ticking. We feel like we got 4 times the value in terms of what we paid! The deliverables that we received were extremely accurate, complete and truly reflected our wishes.
We have to say that the recorded conversations are priceless! These made such a great impression on us that we have continued talking about it over and over between us and everyone else we know. We tell them how unique and moving the experience was for us. That by doing the recorded conversations we are able to leave them for someone in the future was remarkably touching. This is something that we consider to be invaluable and had a tremendous impact on us. We have already recommended Danielle to others and will definitely continue to do so.”
*Please note that while the views represented above do tend to represent the normal experience one has when working with DGVE law®, they are not meant to guarantee any particular outcome for other clients. These reviews belong to actual DGVE law® clients who wrote these reviews out of their own generosity and not in exchange for any compensation by DGVE law® except gratitude.
DGVE law is a boutique Wills, Trusts, Estate Planning, Probate, and Trust and Estate Administration law firm founded by top-rated Massachusetts Attorney Danielle G. Van Ess in Hingham in 2008 .
We help our clients leave a legacy, rather than a paper mess or infighting, by planning ahead, and we guide surviving loved ones, with compassion and empathy, through the difficult process of wrapping up final affairs after death.
Get free lawerly advice, helpful checklists, and reminders, & an occasional giggle.
Serving Massachusetts clients all around the Greater Boston area, from the South Shore to the Cape, from MetroWest to the North Shore and back again. We’re worth the drive, but we can condense meetings, and schedule video and phone conferences too.
A few details: (1) Just because you see this website or contact us doesn’t mean we have any agreement to work together or create an attorney-client relationship (we need a written agreement and payment for that). (2) We are only practicing law within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (3) In accordance with Massachusetts Rule of Professional Conduct 7.4, DGVE law welcomes matters related to the listed practice areas. (4) The information on this web site is meant to be informational, not specific legal advice for your unique situation. Any unauthorized use of material on this site is at the user’s own risk.
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